Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 23
Number 23, take appropriate action on foundation committees for the operation of its tax preparation assistance program during the 2012 tax season, to provide free income tax filing, assistance to eligible residents.
a agreements for the provision of space at Travis County south rural community center in dell value, and reece rural community center in manor for the tax assistance preparation for 2012 season and b enkind support for communities, tax preparation assistance in the form of printing, brochures, flyers, forms and other materials for other materials for the 2012 season and c, in kind support for tax preparation assistance program in the form of deaf interpreter services for the 2012 tax season.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
goo morning, judge and Commissionerses, shary flemming county executive for health and human services and veteran services.
this is a question we made several years on behalf of foundation communities to provide access to free tax preparation for our residents most in need.
we find that this work in our community has resulted in millions of dollars of earned tax income credit filings during the tax preparation process and so staff is here today to recommend your approval.
by way of background, for last year, we provided about $21,000 in in-kind support.
this year, the request is a little bit short of that.
it is about $18,000 with combined printing and asl interpreter time that we would be providing with your approval.
foundation communities has also requested the use of the south rural community center, I think your backup says the south rural community center and east rural, but I believe we are only going to be using the south rural community center this year.
the foundation communities have various locations that I am sure mr. Morrow will talk about in just a minute.
so we do need to amend that part of our backup.
so staff, this item is funded from the approved -- or can be funded from the approved hhs fy '12 budget.
that's how we covered it over the previous years which basically results in interdepartmental a transfers for the printing and the asl time and for that, I will have mr. Morrow introduce himself and tell you about the impact of this the work.
>> hi.
I am the director of foundation communities.
first I want to say thank you.
I think, judge, you were there 8 years ago when we kicked off this service.
>> I was very young at that time.
it was a while ago.
>> [laughter]
>> we have been excited to watch this program grow and for anybody watching, I just want to get the word out that you don't have to pay for tax help if you are a lower income family in Travis County.
we help about 18,000 families do their taxes this past season for free.
total reed funds were over $29 million back into our local economy.
we have over 700 trained volunteers that participate are irs certified and locations.
it is easy as calling 211 to find out the hours and locations.
the in-kind help from the county is huge.
asl interpreters help with our sign language clients.
the printing is 137,000 pieces of paper for flyers and volunteer training materials which is a huge savings to our budget and then we are really excited to be at the south rural community center and have that location available for folks.
this is a real partnership effort.
>> what was the previous location?
you indicated it was two locations according to the backup?
so what happened to the other?
can you tell me something a little bit about that?
>> I apologize, I don't know.
I know our team scouts out the best locations that can be open significant hours.
>> okay.
>> so that they are open long enough to be convenient for clients to get to.
>> I guess my question is, if you have a track record of who was served from last year previously, or just wondering how many people were served last year under that scenario, where it was kind of broken up?
>> I would have to follow up with you on the number of clients per location.
>> okay.
that would be great.
great to know.
anyway, go ahead.
I didn't mean to break you up.
I just wanted to make sure I get that information.
>> all right.
>> go ahead.
>> my last comment is just that this is one of those programs that is a true partnership of organizations.
the city is a significant partner.
the michael and you san antonio dell foundation, chamber, churches, schools, other locations that we are at and the county participation is essentially and we are grateful for that and are ready to start doing taxes.
>> let me ask you a question.
is there transportation opportunities available to get to this location since there is something that persons that need this service throughout all of Travis County, have a way to get there?
for example, bus, other transportation needs, that may be ready and available, do we know of those particular attributes, as far as getting there to and making sure they have their taxes prepared?
do we have any inkling of that?
>> in evaluating every site we are at, we make sure we have public transit access.
what we have found and this is a little counterintuitive over the last 8 years, that rather -- 10 years ago when the irs ran the ida program they were 30 locations different hours of the week and the idea was we will make it easy for people to get to us.
what we found not just in our program but programs in san antonio and tulsa and other cities, it is actual better to have fewer locations open 7 days a week.
people will get to you.
taxes are something you have to do once a year.
>> right.
>> and they will find either public transit or they have their own transit or will car pool with somebody, but the more important thing is to be open convenient hours.
we are open 7 days a week during tax season pretty much from 9 in the morning until 9 at night.
>> oh, yeah.
>> and every one of the locations is packed.
so.
>> that's good.
>> people can get to us.
>> that's a good thing.
>> yes.
>> tax season is when?
>> towards the end of January, folks start getting their w-2s and can call 211.
that's the easiest way or our website and can get more details about what papers they need to bring.
the busiest season for us is really the first who weeks of February because most of our clients want to get in and if they are getting a refund, have that process quickly.
more complicated tax returns, we are happy to help people in March.
this year we have appointment service, so people don't have to wait as long.
we are excited to start.
>> so is this this the amount you have been doing?
>> this is based on last year's numbers a little less printing we have been doing historically, judge, so I know foundation community staff have been really good about evaluating what they have printed each year and, you know, try to ask for what they exactly need from us so we appreciate that.
and we know that shunt shop order it is stock once this approval comes from the Commissioners court, then they know are good about what can items thigh node to order, so it has been a good partnership over the last several years.
>> move approval of abc of item 23.
>> second.
>> any more discussion on the motion?
>> judge, Biscoe, marietta.
>> will you bring back a license agreement -- we will bring back a license agreement to cover the specific terms but I wanted to get this approved so they can get started on printing preparation and stuff but we will have the license agreement for you in a week or two.
>> let me ask you this from the discussion.
the 211 number that the person dials.
will it actually give the location of how to get there, the number of hours, all of those pertinent things, information that the person needs to know when they dial that number, will all of that be available when a person dials the number for the need of the service?
>> the folks answering the phone at united way that run 211 have all of the information in there.
they handle something like 25,000 phone calls, and they are well schooled on.
>> 25,000?
>> they can't answer technical tax questions but they can help point to the right direction.
>> point to the right direction.
okay.
that's what I needed to hear.
okay.
>> Commissioner, generally, our residents share their zip load location and the 211 staff can identify services that are closest to them, so that's another benefit of being able to contact that one 211 source to get that information.
>> okay.
great.
>> so, judge, in response to legal, what we request that the judge be allowed to sign this --
>> you can authorize the judge to sign the license agreement or we can bring it back to court.
>> is that part of your motion, judge?
>> it wasn't.
>> for the license agreement?
>> let the county judge be authorized to sign on behalf of the Commissioners court, assuming that the contract is pretty standard and similar to what we had last year.
>> it will be.
>> the motion is growing.
>> it will be different days and a little different money.
but the same agreement.
>> second at that.
>> Commissioner Gomez.
discussion?
all those in favor?
this passes by unanimous vote.
thank you very much, good to see you again.
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